Friday, December 27, 2013

And the Curtains Came Up!

Continuing our adventures in Florida, I thought I would post a few more photos of said adventures! I hope you all enjoy :-)

The curtains come up on the Mermaid Show. At Weeki Wachee, it is okay for a grown man to be excited for the Little Mermaid!

Mermaids! It was so cool to finally see the show!

Some of these mermaids performed for almost 30 minutes under water. I say that is quite a feat! No pun intended.

The Mermaids have been performing since 1947. I'm sure it has captivated many people over all of those years! I know it is something I will never forget.

The waters of the Weeki Wachee river are crystal clear. It was amazing. I had never seen water like that before.

And in the river there are manatees! Some of these sea cows get up to 1200 lbs. I want to swim with them, which you apparently can. Another item for the Lorne list of adventures.

Playing with my son at Clearwater Beach. The water was not super warm, but we still had fun anyways. Beaches are an excellent way to spend a December afternoon.

There were street performers at Clearwater Beach. It was a lot of fun watching them do their thing and entertaining. They reminded us all that this is how the entertainment industry started hundreds (or even thousands) of years ago. Street theatre is a dying art they said, and I couldn't agree more.

The father-son duo did some impressive performances with juggling and entertaining. The final act was the son doing a Houdini-style escape from a straight jacket and padlocked chain. He had two audience members cinch it down super tight and managed to escape in less than 3 minutes. Impressive.

Lounging by the pool at the house. The water was cold, but it was still fun to be there.

My wife caught a brown anole and took some photos. These little guys are everywhere and it was fun chasing them down.

A view of the back of the house from the golf course. Houses in Spring Hill are so much nicer than those in Calgary (and cheaper!). It was so nice to see green space between houses and not be able to jump from roof to roof as we can here in Calgary. Not that I do that, heh heh.

We headed back to Weeki Wachee for Christmas lights! They had a petting zoo, and what better time to get acquainted with tomorrow's lunch.

Looking out over Buccaneer Bay in Weeki Wachee (at night).

It is so lush in Florida, and there are so many trees I do not recognize. I did learn that the Cypress tree sheds its needles in the winter season, the only coniferous tree to do so.

We spend a day at Fort DeSoto park in St. Petersburg. It was a beautiful and remote park with stunning beaches, wind blown sand (gets in to everything) and warm, shallow waters. It was awesome to watch the waves come in and in those waves you could see schools of fish swimming and jumping.

A view from Fort DeSoto park's south beach looking towards the Sunshine Skyway. And yes, I really enjoyed watching the kiteboarder's do their thing. Another thing to add to my Lorne list of things to do. My wife approves of the sport, so long as she can take photos.

My next trip to Florida will hopefully involve the following:
1. Bringing my family
2. Swimming with manatees
3. Kayaking in a crystal clear river
4. Kiteboarding lessons
5. Running on the beach
6. Probably working, but oh well.